i'm starting a new thread instead of just throwing it in the pc thread because i'm sure i'll have more stuff like this in the future. my instincts are to hate all of this change for change sake crap. but logically, mcwhorter is obviously right, the taboos of my youth were no more logical than the taboos of today. and those of today no stupider than those coming tomorrow.

"i did" does seem to me like a natural construction to the broken lamp question though. not sure if he's saying that i without a verb is unnatural or that any use of i is unnatural.

Yeah sometimes he oversimplifies or rushes. He probably should have said no one will correct you if you answer with "me" even though it's technically improper.

Also we tell our kids they can swear in our house but be aware that other people might be offended or mad or uncomfortable. They don't cuss too much but one daughter says "Jeeee-zus...." just about any time I ask her to do something like put away her dirty dishes which is pretty annoying.

In the book, Wolfe criticises Darwin and his colleagues for taking partial credit from Alfred Wallace for the theory of evolution and ignoring Wallace's later work on the theory. Wolfe then criticises Noam Chomsky for dismissing Daniel Everett, who disputes Chomsky's claim that all languages are based ultimately on a hard-wired mechanism known as the language acquisition device (LAD). Wolfe argues that speech, not evolution, sets humans apart from animals and is responsible for all of humanity's complex achievements.

In the book, Wolfe criticises Darwin and his colleagues for taking partial credit from Alfred Wallace for the theory of evolution and ignoring Wallace's later work on the theory. Wolfe then criticises Noam Chomsky for dismissing Daniel Everett, who disputes Chomsky's claim that all languages are based ultimately on a hard-wired mechanism known as the language acquisition device (LAD). Wolfe argues that speech, not evolution, sets humans apart from animals and is responsible for all of humanity's complex achievements.

I hadn't heard of it until you mentioned it, but this guy hates it. The book I am reading Against The Grain has an awful lot to say about how wrong the idea is that hunter-gatherers "do not need large brains" and I can assure you that is just not supported by the evidence. Chomsky is an extremely well renowned linguist and provides a really compelling case for LAD, but I don't have enough details in that debate to argue as much.